Here at Austral Tech all our Professional Services Consultants are certified to the highest possible level on the F5 Certification program. If you are not familiar with the F5 Certification program or you are preparing and studying to pass the exams we leave here a brief explanation for each one, some study guides and some materials.
F5 certification program. Exam descriptions and study materials
| Exam description | TMOS version | Blueprint | Study guide | Passing score |
| Exam 101–Application Delivery Fundamentals | 11.4 |  |
.png) |
67% |
| Exam 201–TMOS Administration | 11.4 | |
|
69% |
| Exam 301a–BIG-IP LTM Specialist: Architect, Setup, and Deploy | 11.5 | |
|
67% |
| Exam 301b–BIG-IP LTM Specialist: Maintain and Troubleshoot | 11.5 | |
|
67% |
| Exam 302–BIG-IP DNS Specialist | 12.1 | |
|
64% |
| Exam 303–BIG-IP ASM Specialist | 12.1 | |
|
57% |
| Exam 304–BIG-IP APM Specialist | 11.3 | |
|
59% |
| Exam 401–Security Solution Expert | 12.0 | |
|
65% |
Exam descriptions
Exam 101–Application Delivery Fundamentals
Exam summary
This is the first exam required to achieve F5 Certified BIG-IP Administrator status. All candidates must take this exam to move forward in the program.
Successful completion of the 101–Application Delivery Fundamentals exam acknowledges the skills and understanding necessary for day-to-day management of Application Delivery Networks (ADNs). This exam identifies candidates that possess the knowledge that is necessary to work with F5 products and technologies.
Summary description of the minimally qualified candidate (MQC)
The MQC has a basic understanding of network fundamentals, protocols, and common traffic management concepts. The MQC also understands the basic concepts of F5 technology as applied to network fundamentals, protocols, and traffic management (for example, TMOS).
The MQC can do the following without assistance:
- Articulate the advantages of a full application proxy.
- Explain the seven layers of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model.
- Describe valid uses/methods of HTTP.
- Identify and define the components of TMOS.
Prerequisite for:
- Exam 201–TMOS Administration
Exam 201–TMOS Administration
Exam summary
This is the second exam required to achieve Certified F5 BIG-IP Administrator status. Candidates must have passed the 101–Application Delivery Fundamentals exam in order to be eligible for the 201 exam.
Successful completion of the BIG-IP Administrator exam identifies candidates who can independently perform day-to-day operations and basic troubleshooting of TMOS-based devices in various application environments after it has been installed, configured, and implemented.
Summary description of the MQC
The MQC is capable of performing day-to-day operations of TMOS-based devices which have already been installed. The MQC is also capable of basic troubleshooting of a TMOS-based device in order to provide full, accurate, and appropriate information to senior engineers and/or F5 support.
The MQC can do the following without assistance:
- Enable a virtual server that has already been defined.
- Locate where iRules are facilitated within QKView.
- Use QKView troubleshooting tools (for example, obtain a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) dump and a qkview using QKView, and upload a qkview to BIG-IP iHealth).
Prerequisite:
- Exam 101–Application Delivery Fundamentals
Exam 301a–BIG-IP LTM Specialist: Architect, Setup, and Deploy
Exam summary
This is one of two exams required to achieve F5 Certfied Technology Specialist, Local Traffic Manager status. Individuals who pass this exam possess an understanding of underlying principles—from Secure Sockets Layer-based (SSL) Virtual Private Network (VPN) implementation to symmetric and asymmetric acceleration—and can draw on that insight to integrate BIG-IP LTM into existing networks as well as new implementations.
Summary description of the MQC
The MQC is able to describe and explain how the applications work through OSI Layer 7. The MQC is able to design, implement, maintain, optimize, and troubleshoot advanced BIG-IP LTM product features to enhance the effectiveness of an application delivery network. The MQC understands the underlying principles of BIG-IP LTM and can integrate specific BIG-IP LTM technologies with other platforms and products.
The MQC can do the following without assistance:
- Create a BIG-IP LTM configuration/design to deliver applications in a scalable, highly available, and redundant environment to meet customer specifications.
- Create application-specific monitors.
- Select and configure the most appropriate load balancing (LB) method based upon the application requirements and server capabilities.
- Determine when to use secure network address translation (SNAT) and when not to use SNAT.
Prerequisite:
- Exam 201–TMOS Administration
Prerequisite for:
- Exam 301b–BIG-IP LTM Specialist: Maintain and Troubleshoot
Exam 301b–BIG-IP LTM Specialist: Maintain and Troubleshoot
Exam summary
This exam identifies individuals qualified to design, implement, maintain, and troubleshoot advanced F5 product features to enhance the effectiveness of an application delivery network. They possess an understanding of underlying principles—from SSL-based VPN implementation to symmetric and asymmetric acceleration—and can draw on that insight to integrate BIG-IP LTM into existing networks as well as new implementations.
Summary description of the MQC
The MQC is able to describe and explain how the applications work through OSI Layer 7. The MQC is able to design, implement, maintain, optimize, and troubleshoot advanced BIG-IP LTM product features to enhance the effectiveness of an application delivery network. The MQC understands the underlying principles of BIG-IP LTM and can integrate specific BIG-IP LTM technologies with other platforms and products.
The MQC can do the following without assistance:
- Create a BIG-IP LTM configuration/design to deliver applications in a scalable, highly available, and redundant environment to meet customer specifications.
- Create application-specific monitors.
- Select and configure the most appropriate LB method based upon the application requirements and server capabilities.
- Determine when to use SNAT and when not touse SNAT.
Prerequisite:
Exam 302–BIG-IP DNS Specialist
Exam summary
Successful completion of this exam indicates that the candidate possesses the knowledge, and understands the concepts and technology standards that are applicable to application delivery architects and application delivery engineers working with BIG-IP DNS.
Summary description of the MQC
The MQC is able to understand the basic operation of the Domain Name System (DNS) protocol, deploy and test configurations, and troubleshoot and remedy common misconfigurations. The MQC is able to explain the capabilities of DNS services to deploy applications globally.
The MQC can do the following without assistance:
- Explain the DNS query process.
- Recognize when to use ZoneRunner to manage DNS records on BIG-IP DNS.
- Configure and troubleshoot the operational aspects of DNS.
- Perform basic architecture for deployments.
Prerequisite:
- Exam 201-TMOS Administration
Exam 303–BIG-IP ASM Specialist
Exam summary
This exam is required to achieve the F5 Certified Technology Specialist, Application Security Manager certification. This certification builds upon the F5 Certified BIG-IP Administrator certification. These certifications assure prospective employers that the candidate is fully qualified to design, implement, and maintain BIG-IP ASM, including advanced features.
Summary description of the MQC
The MQC is able to describe and explain how applications work and how BIG-IP ASM interacts with web applications. The MQC is able to design, implement, maintain, and troubleshoot the full functionality of BIG-IP ASM product features to enhance the security of an application delivery network. The MQC understands the underlying principles of BIG-IP ASM and can draw on that insight to integrate BIG-IP ASM with other platforms and products.
The MQC can do the following without assistance:
- Determine and implement an appropriate, application-specific BIG-IP ASM deployment model (policies) or architecture (scale).
- Create a BIG-IP ASM configuration/design to secure applications according to needs and requirements.
- Customize a BIG-IP ASM policy for a web application.
- Identify where to integrate BIG-IP ASM into the data flow by understanding the interrelation between BIG-IP ASM and the network architecture.
Prerequisite:
- Exam 201-TMOS Administration
Exam 304–BIG-IP APM Specialist
Exam summary
This exam is required to achieve the F5 Certified Technology Specialist, Access Policy Manager status, and successful completion acknowledges the skills and understanding necessary for day-to-day management of application delivery networks that incorporate technologies based on the TMOS operating system (BIG-IP 11.x).
Summary description of the MQC
The MQC understands how BIG-IP APM interacts with industry remote access, authentication, and authorization standards, and can independently install, configure, implement, troubleshoot (advanced), maintain, and upgrade BIG-IP APM in various application environments.
The MQC can do the following without assistance:
- Configure access policies—the less-than-MQC can only review or amend them.
- Apply SSL/VPN client and server-side, including certs—the less-than-MQC has no experience with SSL/VPN.
- Configure BIG-IP APM to enable single sign-on (SSO)—the less-than-MQC may only be aware of its existence.
- Configure and troubleshoot endpoint security—the less-than-MQC can only perform basic/limited troubleshooting.
Prerequisites:
- Exam 201–TMOS Administration
Exam 401–F5 Certified Security Solution Expert
Exam summary
Successful completion of this exam acknowledges the skills and understanding to discover business requirements regarding security and articulate technical requirements driven by the business. Candidates can also apply F5 solutions to meet technical requirements for a security solution and articulate the value of the solution (BIG-IP 12.x).
Summary description of the MQC
The MQC has experience designing security solutions leveraging BIG-IP LTM, BIG-IP DNS, BIG-IP ASM, BIG-IP APM, BIG-IP AFM, BIG-IQ modules, IP Intelligence (IPI), WebSafe, and MobileSafe. The MQC can analyze technical requirements, translate them into security requirements, apply and modify security architectures utilizing F5 technology to meet the requirements, and articulate the value of the solution.
Prerequisites:
- Exam 101–Application Delivery Fundamentals
- Exam 201–TMOS Administration
- Exam 301a–BIG-IP LTM Specialist: Architect, Setup, and Deploy
- Exam 301b–BIG-IP LTM Specialist: Maintain and Troubleshoot
- Exam 302–BIG-IP DNS Specialist
- Exam 303–BIG-IP ASM Specialist
- Exam 304–BIG-IP APM Specialist
Supplemental Information
